Molding device for plastic material

ABSTRACT

A molding apparatus for forming articles and specifically patties from a moldable material and specifically ground meat, fish or the like in which a plurality of articles are formed simultaneously by providing a movable mold having a plurality of mold openings therein, a hopper for retaining a supply of the moldable material and a plurality of feeders in the bottom section of the hopper movable toward and away from a fractional number of the passages leading to the mold openings when the mold is in material receiving position and with force means for moving the feeders toward and away from the passage means for filling the mold openings. The invention also includes a partition dividing the bottom section of the hopper into a plurality of separate parts, a feeder in the bottom section for forcing material therefrom into a mold opening and an agitator in the plurality of separate bottom parts movable to dislodge material from the adjacent portions of the hopper for increasing efficiency in feeding the material from the hopper into the mold openings. The invention also includes a pair of rotatable movers in the hopper on opposite sides of the feeder with these mover devices being rotatable toward the feeder for dislodging the moldable material and urging it toward the feeder.

United States Patent Holly [151 3,654,665 Apr. 11, 1972 [54] MOLDINGDEVICE FOR PLASTIC MATERIAL James A. Holly, Richton Park, Ill.

[73] Assignee: Hollymatic Corporation [22] Filed: Apr. 9, 1970 [21]Appl. No.: 26,814

[72] Inventor:

Primary Examiner-Lucie H. Laudenslager Attorney-Hofgren, Wegner, Allen,Stellman & McCord [5 7] ABSTRACT A molding apparatus for formingarticles and specifically patties from a moldable material andspecifically ground meat,

fish or the like in which a plurality of articles are formedsimultaneously by providing a movable mold having a plurality of moldopenings therein, a hopper for retaining a supply of the moldablematerial and a plurality of feeders in the bottom section of the hoppermovable toward and away from a fractional number of the passages leadingto the mold openings when the mold is in material receiving position andwith force means for moving the feeders toward and away from the passagemeans for filling the mold openings. The invention also includes apartition dividing the bottom section of the hopper into a plurality ofseparate parts, a feeder in the bottom section for forcing materialtherefrom into a mold opening and an agitator in the plurality ofseparate bottom parts movable to dislodge material from the adjacentportions of the hopper for increasing efficiency in feeding the materialfrom the hopper into the mold openings. The invention also includes apair of rotatable movers in the hopper on opposite sides of the feederwith these mover devices being rotatable toward the feeder fordislodging the moldable material and urging it toward the feeder.

11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PKTENTEDAPR 11 I972 3, 654, 665

SHEET 1 [IF 3 L nun; mulls-1R1 9| INVENTOR,

JAMES A. HOLLY ATTORNEYS.

PATENTEUAPR 1 1 I972 SHEET 2 OF 3 A I lllfl.

NOE

PATENTEDAPR 1 1 I972 SHEET 3 [1F 3 FIG?) MOLDING DEVICE FOR PLASTICMATERIAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to moldingapparatus particularly for forming articles such as patties from plasticmaterial such as ground food material in which a number of the articlesare produced simultaneously. The invention is related to my prior U.S.Pat. No. 3,417,425 dated Dec. 24, 1968 and assigned to the same assigneeas the present invention. In both this prior patent and the presentinvention the moldable material is forced from a hopper by areciprocable feeder by arranging a mold opening in a movable mold inposition to receive material from the hopper. The mold is then moved toejecting position where the mold opening with the contained material isexposed for removal of the thusly formed article.

The invention described and claimed herein is an improvement over thestructures shown in prior US. Pat. Nos. 1,171,937; 3,203,037; 3,416,187and 3,490,093.

In the present application the apparatus is designed specifically forforming a desired plurality of the articles such as pattiessimultaneously. In this invention the mold contains a plurality of moldopenings for simultaneously forming a plurality of molded articles.There are also provided a plurality of feeder means in a bottom sectionof the hopper each movable toward and away from a fractional number ofthe passages leading from the hopper to the mold for forcing materialfrom the hopper into the mold openings when the openings are incommunication with the hopper or, in other words, when the movable moldhas been moved to this position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One of the features of this invention is toprovide an improved molding apparatus for molding a plurality ofarticles simultaneously in which a plurality of feeders operating in abottom section of a hopper are each movable toward and away from afractional number of passages leading from the hopper to the moldopenings when the mold is in material receiving position.

Another feature of the invention is to provide a molding apparatus forsimultaneously forming a plurality of molded articles and havingpartition means dividing the bottom section of the hopper into aplurality of separate parts and agitator means in the bottom sectionparts adjacent the movable feeder in the hopper bottom section in whichthe agitator is movable to dislodge the movable material from adjacentportions of the hopper. Each of the separate bottom section partscontains its own agitator for efficient dislodging of the material.

A further feature of the invention is to provide a molding apparatushaving a pair of rotatable mover devices in the hopper adjacent to andon opposite sides of a feeder means and operating means for rotatingthese devices toward the feeder for dislodging the material and urgingit toward the feeder and an agitator means between the mover devices andadjacent the feeder means to aid further in supplying the material tothe feeder.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective viewillustrating a molding apparatus embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view partially broken away forclarity of illustration of the apparatus of FIG.

' FIG. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along line4-4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 1n the embodiment illustrated inthe accompanying drawings the molding apparatus comprises a cabinet 11supported on casters 12 and including side walls 13 and 14.

Located on top of the cabinet 11 is a material receiving hopper 15 whichin the illustrated embodiment is for receiving ground meat, ground fishor other subdivided food material particularly of an adhesive nature.This hopper has a bottom section 16 that is divided into a plurality ofseparate parts 17, here shown as two, by transverse partitions 26.

Located beneath the hopper 15 is a horizontally reciprocable mold plate18 having a plurality, here shown as 8, of mold openings 19 therein.

Communicating with the bottom section 16 of the hopper 15 are aplurality of access passages 20 with the illustrated embodiment havingone passage 20 for each mold opening 19. As can be seen in FIG. 4 theaccess passages or fill slots are located in a horizontal plate 21beneath which the mold plate 18 is held for horizontal reciprocation.The bottom of the mold plate 18 is supported on a base plate 22 that isheld by the top of the cabinet 11.

The bottom section 16 of the hopper 15 is provided with a forward stepportion 23 that provides a front cavity 24. As can be seen in FIG. 4 thefront end of this cavity 24 is directly above and therefore leads to theplurality of fill slots 20.

In the extreme bottom part 25 that contains the front cavity 24 there islocated a plurality of feeder means in the form of horizontallyreciprocable rams 27. In the illustrated embodiment there are two ofthese rams 27 arranged side-by-side on opposite sides of the bottompartition 26. Each ram 27 is mounted in this bottom part 25 of thehopper immediately above the fill slot plate 21 for reciprocation towardand away from the fill slots to force moldable material such as groundbeef therethrough into the plurality of mold openings 19 simultaneouslywhen the mold 18 has been moved to a position of registry with the slots20 as illustrated in the drawings.

Each ram 27 is movable toward and away from a fractional number of thetotal passage means or fill slots 20. In the illustrated embodimentthere are eight of these fill slots and correspondingly eight moldopenings and each ram 27 is used to fill one-half or four of this totalof mold openings simultaneously.

The driving power for the mold plate 18 as well as the feeder rams 27comprises an electric motor 28 positioned in the bottom of the cabinet11 which drives a pulley 30 by means of a belt 31.

The pulley 30 is mounted on a shaft 32 for rotation thereof with theshaft extending horizontally between the side walls 13 and 14. Therotation of the shaft 32 drives a speed reduction gearing arrangementincluding a small sprocket 33 on the shaft 32 and a large sprocket 34spaced therefrom and connected by a drive chain 35 to the small sprocket33.

The large sprocket 34 is mounted on a second horizontal transverse shaft36 also extending between the side walls 13 and 14 with this shaftconnected to an external rotatable linkage arm 37 that is rotatablyconnected to a reciprocable second linkage arm 38. This second arm 38 inturn is connected to a third linkage arm 39 which is reciprocable on across shaft 40 in the bottom of the cabinet 11 and extending between theside walls 13 and 14.

As can be seen in FIG. 1 the shafts 32, 36 and 40 are parallel to eachother with the shaft 40 being located at the bottom of the cabinet 11and being connected to the bottom end of the generally verticallyextending linkage arm 39.

The upper end of this arm 39 which is shown in reduced size in FIG. 2for clarity of illustration is attached to the forward end of thegenerally horizontal link 41. The rear end of this link 41 is connectedto a side cam plate 42 inwardly of which is located an elongatedhorizontal rack 43.

This rack 43 is provided with upwardly facing teeth 107a. In theillustrated embodiment there are provided a pair of these horizontalracks 43 on opposite sides of the hopper and located immediately aboveeach of these first racks 43 is a second rack 45 the teeth 46 of whichface downwardly. Engaging the opposed teeth of each pair of verticallyaligned racks 43 and 45 is a pinion gear 47. With this arrangement whenthe bottom racks 43 are moved to the right as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 4the top racks 45 are moved to the left, and vice versa. This rack andpinion arrangement is substantially the same as illustrated in the aboveprior US. Pat. No. 3,417,425.

The link 41 on its rear end, which is opposite the end connected to thelinkage arm 39, carries an inwardly extending pin 48 which extendsthrough the cam plate 42 to engage a horizontal slot 49 in the bottomrack 43. These bottom racks 43 carry at their forward ends a cross bar50 to which is attached as by means of spaced bolts 51 the forward endof the centrally divided mold plate 18 which in effect is in the form oftwo side-by-side sub-plates (FIG. 3) each attached to the cross bar 50by a pair of the bolts 51. As the bottom racks 43 are reciprocatedhorizontally by the drive pin 48 connected thereto they carry the moldplates 18 in horizontal reciprocation between an extreme retractedposition as shown in the drawings and an extreme forward position wherethe mold openings are exposed for removal of their patty shaped contentsin a manner to be described hereinafter.

The rear ends of the top racks 45 carry a cross bar 52 which operates todrive the feeder rams 27. This driving arrangement for each ram isessentially the same as that shown in my pending application No.865,628, filed Oct. 13, 1969 and assigned to the same assignee as thepresent application.

The cross bar 52 carries two pairs of side-by-side spaced stop bars 53each having an upwardly sloped front end 54 provided by an upwardlysloped bottom surface 55.

Just above the path of movement of each of the feeder rams 27 is arearwardly extending latch bar 56. Each latch bar 56 carries at its rearend a transverse axle 57 on which is located a pair of opposite endrollers 58. Positioned within a slot 59 at the extreme rear end of eachlatch bar 56 and between the end rollers 58 is a rotatable catch 60.Each catch 60 in its slot 59 is urged in clockwise direction (as viewedin FIG. 4) by a spring 61 so that each catch 60 normally is held in theposition shown in the drawings under the urging of its spring 61.

The front end of each latch bar 56 is hingedly mounted on its ownbracket 62 attached to the rear of the hopper bottom 16 as shown in FIG.4 for upward movement from its horizontal position shown. This hingemounting for each bar 56 per mits vertical movement of the bar whenunrestrained by the side stop bars 53.

In order to provide a resilient drive for each feeder ram 27 there isprovided a rearwardly extending drive bolt 63 on each ram 27 aroundwhich extends a helical spring 64 whose outer end bears against a tube65 that is slidable on its bolt 63 and that carries a threaded collar 66for adjustable mounting thereon. The rear end of each bolt beyond thetube 65 carries a button 68 that is larger than the tube 65. When thetwo springs 64 are in their fully extended position as illustrated inthe drawings the collars 66 bear against the forward surfaces of thecross bar 52.

As can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 each latch bar 56 is located immediatelyabove a bolt 63. Each tube 65 is provided with flattened sides 67located in a notch 69 in the cross bar 52 so that the threaded collars66 when in their rearmost positions bear against the front of the crossbar 52 and the front ends of the notches 69.

Positioned in the two separate parts 17 of the bottom section 16 of thehopper are arcuately reciprocable agitators 70 each in the form of abail. The two agitators are each mounted at their adjacent ends on abearing axle 71 with the opposite ends of the agitators each connectedto similar axles 72 and 73 extending to the exterior of the apparatus.The three axles 71, 72 and 73 are aligned.

The axle 73 on the end that is opposite its agitator 70 carries a piniongear 74 that engages a rack gear 75 that is mounted on the top of anupper drive rack 45. The opposite end axle 72 carries a similar pinionand its rack 76 is mounted on the other top drive rack 45.

As can be seen most clearly in FIGS. 3 and 4, the longitudinal bottomcomers 77 of the hopper on either side of the hopper bottom section 16are rounded. These rounded bottom corners have mounted therein rotatablemover devices 78 with each comprising a pair of parallel rods 79extending substantially the full length of the hopper 15 above thepartition 26 and connected at their ends by parallel cross bars 80. Oneend of each device 78 is mounted on an axle 81 that is rotatably held ina bearing and the other end of each device 78 is mounted on a similaraxle 82 with each pair of axles 81 and 82 for each device 78 beingaligned.

The external end of each of the axles 82 has attached to it a ratchetwheel 83 (FIG. 2). These ends of the axles 82 also each rotatablycarries a reciprocating lever 84 on which is mounted a spring pressedpawl 85 for engaging the teeth of its wheel 83.

The two operating levers 84 are substantially parallel and are connectedby a pivotally mounted metal strap 86. One end 87 of one lever 84extends downwardly to adjacent the rear end of the rack gear 75 and islocated between two spaced pins 88 and 89 on this rack 75 so as toprovide a lost motion drive for the levers 84.

In order to provide a removal apparatus for ejecting the plurality ofpatties 90 from the transversely aligned mold openings 19 there isprovided a pair of side levers 91 (FIGS. 1 and 2) hingedly connected attheir rear ends 92 to the apparatus and carrying at their forward ends across bar 93 on which is mounted a series of knockout rings 94 each heldby a bolt 103. The rings are equal in number to the plurality of moldopenings 19 and positioned directly above the openings when the moldplate 18 has been moved to its fully extended position from itsretracted position shown in the drawings. One of the side levers 91 thatis adjacent and above the cam plate 42 carries a downwardly extendingmetal bar 106 provided on its lower end with a flange 95. A helicalspring 96 extends from element 91 to a lower flange 97 that is mountedon the side wall 13 of the apparatus. The mounting 98 for the lowerflange 97 also carries a resilient rubber bumper 99 which is engaged bythe flange when the spring 96 pulls the side levers 91 and knockoutrings 94 carried thereby sharply downwardly.

The vertical bar 106 also carries an inwardly extending pin 100 that isadapted to engage a sloped cam slot 101 in the upper edge of theelongated cam plate 42. Adjacent the forward end of this cam slot 101 isan upwardly opening generally vertical slot 102 in the lower operatingrack 43.

The operation of the apparatus of this invention as illustrated in theembodiment in the accompanying drawings is as follows:

With the link arm 39 and link 41 in the retracted positions shown themold plate 18 is in a similarly retracted position with the series oftransversely aligned mold openings 19 in communication with theirrespective fill slots 20 and the two feeding rams 27 in their forwardpositions where they have just finished applying feeding pressure toforce the moldable material, which may be ground meat, under pressureinto the mold openings 19 simultaneously to fonn a series of meatpatties 90, here shown as eight.

Upon further movement of the drive mechanism 28-39 the side linkage arm39 is moved to the right from the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 tostart the return movements. Because of the lost motion connectionprovided by the pin 48 and horizontal slot 49 in the lower rack 43 themold plate 18 begins to move immediately to the right. This moves themold openings 19 out of communication with their fill slots 20 while thefeed rams 27 are still retained in their spring pressed forwardpositions to continue to apply pressure to the patties 90 within theopenings 19.

The forward movement of the side racks 43 causes the upper racks 45 tomove rearwardly by reason of the drive pinion gears 47. This causesrearward movement of the cross bar 52 as well as the two pairs of stopbars 53 mounted thereon. The rearward movement of the stop bars 53thereupon releases the two latch bars 56 so that they spring upwardlythereby permitting the two catches 60 to release their respeccurs therearward movement of the cross bar 52 engages the rear buttons 68 on therear end of each bolt 63 to retract the feeder rams 27 to the left asviewed in the drawings as the cross bar 52 on its racks 45 is retracted.

The initial forward movement of the linkage arm 39 causes the pin 48 tomove to the forward end of slot 49 and the rear edge 104 of the cam slot101 to become immediately aligned with the corresponding rear edge 105of the vertical slot 102. Then when these aligned slots 101 and 102 oncontinued forward movement reach their forwardmost positions beneath thepin 100 the mold plate 18 is in fully extended position to the right asviewed in the drawings so that the pin 100 is snapped down into the slot102 and the aligned rear part 105 of the slot 101 forcibly to projectthe knockout rings 94 into the mold openings 19 to dislodge the pattiestherefrom simultaneously and arrange them transversely on a support (notshown). With this forwardly projected position of the mold plate 18 thefeed rams 27 as explained are in their fully retracted position or tothe extreme left from their forward positions in FIGS. 3 and 4.

When the linkage arm 39 then starts to move in the opposite direction ortoward the position shown in the drawings the cam plate 42 moves firstbecause of the lost motion slot 49 and the inclined forward surface ofthe cam slot 101 lifts the pin 100 and thus the bar 106 and by thismeans the side levers 91 and the attached knockout rings 94 from themold openings to the position shown in FIG. 2. Then further movement ofthe drive mechanism and the mold plate 18 to the left causes the twofeed rams 27 to be moved forwardly by engagement of the cross bar 52with the collars 66 to apply pressure from the springs 64 to the feederrams 27 and thus the ground meat or other material in front of the rams.This movement continues until the stop bars 53 are located above therollers 58 of the latch bars 56 to hold the latch bars in retractedposition. The flat surfaces 107 on the two catches 60 permit thethreaded collar 66 to pass under the catches to the position shown inFIG. 4. As is explained in the above copending-application thisstructure causes spring pressure to be applied on the rams 27 andtherefore on the material in front of the rams until the mold plate 18has been moved out of communication with the fill slots 20.

During the operation of the apparatus during which the drive mechanismincluding the linkage arm 39 is reciprocated back and forth theengagement of the rack 75 with the pinion gears 74 oscillates the pairof agitator bails 70 back and forth through approximately 180 to andfrom a horizontal position as shown immediately above the feed rams 27.This serves to dislodge adhered material which is particularly importantin the case of an adhesive material such as ground raw meat from thesides defining the hopper bottom sections 16. This constant dislodgingcauses the meat to fall to the bottom of the hopper so as to be fedautomatically and continuously into the mold openings by thereciprocating rams 27.

This reciprocating movement also causes intermittent fractional rotationof the mover devices 78 toward the feed rams 27 which further provides aconstant supply of meat or other material for the feed rams. Thus as thedrive racks reciprocate back and forth the lost motion spacing of thepins 88 and 89 causes the operating levers 84 to be oscillatedintermittently with each oscillation turning the ratchet wheels 83 andthus the devices 78 a fraction of a complete revolution.

Having described my invention as related to the embodiment shown in theaccompany drawings, it is my intention that the invention be not limitedby any of the details of description, unless otherwise specified, butrather be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as set out inthe appended claims.

lclaim:

1. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper forretaining a supply of moldable material having a bottom section;partition means dividing said bottom section into a plurality ofseparate parts; a movable mold adjacent said supply means having aplurality of mold openings therein for simultaneously forming aplurality of molded articles; access passages means extending from saidhopper bottom section toward said mold for communicating with said moldopenings; means for cyclically moving said mold between a position wheresaid mold openings communicate with said access passage means and adischarge position; feeder means in said supply means movable toward andaway from said passage means for forcing said material from said hopperinto said mold openings when said openings are in communication withsaid passage means; force means for moving said feeder means; agitatormeans in each said bottom section part adjacent a said feeder meansmovable to dislodge said material from adjacent portions of said hopper,said agitator means comprising a separate agitator between each adjacentpair of said partition means; means for moving said agitator means; andmeans mounting the separate agitators on said partition means forsimultaneous operation including bearings in each said partition meansmounting said agitator means for arcuate movement in said hopper bottomsection.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said feeder means comprises aseparate feeder in each said bottom section part.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for moving said agitatormeans comprises gear means for interconnecting said agitator means andsaid force means, said agitator means is arcuately movable about an axisof oscillation and said gear means comprises a pinion gear attached tosaid agitator means and a rack gear movable with said force means.

4. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper forretaining a supply of moldable material; a movable mold adjacent saidsupply means having a mold opening therein for forming a molded article;access passage means for communicating with said mold opening; means forcyclically moving said mold between a position where said mold openingcommunicates with said access passage means and a discharge position;feeder means in said supply means movable to adjacent said passage meansfor forcing said material from said hopper into said mold opening whensaid opening is in communication with said passage means; means formoving said feeder means toward said passage means; a pair of rotatablemover devices in said hopper on opposite sides of said hopper adjacentto said feeder means when said feeder means is adjacent said passagemeans; and operating means for rotating said mover devices in successivefractional increments of a complete revolution toward said feeder meansfor urging said material toward said feeder means.

5. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper forretaining a supply of moldable material; a movable mold adjacent saidsupply means having a plurality of mold openings therein forsimultaneously forming a plurality of molded articles; access passagemeans for communicating with said mold openings; means for cyclicallymoving said mold between a position where said mold openings communicatewith said access passage means and a discharge position; a plurality offeeder means in said supply means movable each in a straight path towardand away from said mold openings passage means for forcing said materialfrom said supply means into all said plurality of mold openingssubstantially simultaneously when said openings are in communicationwith said passage means; force means for moving said feeders; meansdividing the bottom section of said hopper into a plurality of separateparts each having a said feeder means and a number of passage meanstherein, said force means comprises a separate drive means for eachfeeder means, and each drive means for each feeder means comprises ayieldable means for limiting the amount of pressure applied to its saidfeeder means and thus to said material engaged by said feeder means,said force means including means for moving all said feeder meanssimultaneously; separate catch means for retaining each feeder meansadjacent its access passage means; and separate release means forreleasing each catch means after the corresponding mold opening has beenmoved out of communication with its access passage means.

6. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper forretaining a supply of moldable, material; a movable mold adjacent saidsupply means having a mold opening therein for forming a molded article;access passage means for communicating with said mold opening; means forcyclically moving said mold between a position where said mold openingcommunicates with said access passage means and a discharge position;feeder means in said supply means movable toward said passage means forforcing said material from said hopper into said mold opening when saidopening is in communication with said passage means; means for movingsaid feeder means toward said passage means; a pair of rotatable moverdevices in said hopper adjacent to and on opposite sides of said feedermeans; and operating means for rotating said devices toward said feederfor urging said material toward said feeder means, said operating meansincluding means for rotating each said device alternately in successivefractional increments of a complete revolution, and said means forrotating comprises a ratchet wheel and cooperating pawl on each saidmover device, and lever means interconnecting said pawls forsimultaneous movement thereof.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein there are provided lost motionconnecting means between said lever means and said means for moving saidfeeder means.

8. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper forretaining a supply of moldable material having a bottom section;partition means dividing said bottom section into a plurality ofseparate parts; a movable mold adjacent said supply means having aplurality of molded openings therein for simultaneously forming aplurality of molded articles; access passage means extending from saidhopper bottom section toward said mold for communicating with said moldopenings; means for cyclically moving said mold between a position wheresaid mold openings communicate with said access passage means and adischarge position; feeder means in said supply means movable toward andaway from said passage means for forcing said material from said hopperinto said mold openings when said openings are in communication withsaid passage means; force means for moving said feeder means; agitatormeans in each said bottom section part adjacent a said feeder meansmovable to dislodge said material from adjacent portions of said hopper;means for moving said agitator means; a pair of rotatable mover devicesin said mold adjacent to said feeder means; operating means for rotatingsaid devices toward said feeder means for dislodging said material andurging it toward said feeder means in which said operating meansincludes means for rotating each said device alternately in successiveincrements of a complete revolution; and means for interconnecting saidoperating means and said means for moving said feeder means wherebymovement of said feeder means causes said rotating of said devices, saidmeans for rotating comprises a ratchet wheel and cooperating pawl oneach said device and lever means interconnecting said pawls forsimultaneous movement thereof, and lost motion connecting means betweensaid lever means and said means for moving said feeder means.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said hopper is provided with arcuatebottom side sections in which are located said mover devices.

10. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper forretaining a supply of moldable material; a movable mold adjacent saidsupply means having a mold opening therein for forming a molded article;access passage means for communicating with said mold opening; means forcyclically moving said mold between a position where said mold openingcommunicates with said access passage means and a discharge position;feeder means in said supply means movable toward said passage means forforcing said material from said hopper into said mold opening when saidopening is in communication with said passage means; means for movingsaid feeder means toward said passage means; a pair of rotatable moverdevices in said hopper on opposite sides of said hopper and adjacent tosaid feeder means; operating means for rotating said devices toward saidfeed means for urging said material toward said feeder means; agitatormeans between said mover devices and adjacent said feeder means movableto dislodge said material from adjacent portions of said hopper, saidhopper having a bottom section beneath said mover devices and above saidfeeder means in which said agitator means is positioned; and means formoving said agitator means comprising gear means for interconnectingsaid agitator means and said force means, said agitator means beingarcuately movable about an axis of oscillation and said gear meanscomprising a pinion gear attached to said agitator means and a rack gearmovable with said force means.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said hopper is provided witharcuate bottom side sections in which are located said mover devices.

1. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper for retaining a supply of moldable material having a bottom section; partition means dividing said bottom section into a plurality of separate parts; a movable mold adjacent said supply means having a plurality of mold openings therein for simultaneously forming a plurality of molded articles; access passages means extending from said hopper bottom section toward said mold for communicating with said mold openings; means for cyclically moving said mold between a position where said mold openings communicate with said access passage means and a discharge position; feeder means in said supply means movable toward and away from said passage means for forcing said material from said hopper into said mold openings when said openings are in communication with said passage means; force means for moving said feeder means; agitator means in each said bottom section part adjacent a said feeder means movable to dislodge said material from adjacent portions of said hopper, said agitator means comprising a separate agitator between each adjacent pair of said partition means; means for moving said agitator means; and means mounting the separate agitators on said partition means for simultaneous operation including bearings in each said partition means mounting said agitator means for arcuate movement in said hopper bottom section.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said feeder means comprises a separate feeder in each said bottom section part.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for moving said agitator means comprises gear means for interconnecting said agitator means and said force means, said agitator means is arcuately movable about an axis of oscillation and said gear means comprises a pinion gear attached to said agitator means and a rack gear movable with said force means.
 4. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper for retaining a supply of moldable material; a movable mold adjacent said supply means having a mold opening therein for forming a molded article; access passage means for communicating with said mold opening; means for cyclicAlly moving said mold between a position where said mold opening communicates with said access passage means and a discharge position; feeder means in said supply means movable to adjacent said passage means for forcing said material from said hopper into said mold opening when said opening is in communication with said passage means; means for moving said feeder means toward said passage means; a pair of rotatable mover devices in said hopper on opposite sides of said hopper adjacent to said feeder means when said feeder means is adjacent said passage means; and operating means for rotating said mover devices in successive fractional increments of a complete revolution toward said feeder means for urging said material toward said feeder means.
 5. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper for retaining a supply of moldable material; a movable mold adjacent said supply means having a plurality of mold openings therein for simultaneously forming a plurality of molded articles; access passage means for communicating with said mold openings; means for cyclically moving said mold between a position where said mold openings communicate with said access passage means and a discharge position; a plurality of feeder means in said supply means movable each in a straight path toward and away from said mold openings passage means for forcing said material from said supply means into all said plurality of mold openings substantially simultaneously when said openings are in communication with said passage means; force means for moving said feeders; means dividing the bottom section of said hopper into a plurality of separate parts each having a said feeder means and a number of passage means therein, said force means comprises a separate drive means for each feeder means, and each drive means for each feeder means comprises a yieldable means for limiting the amount of pressure applied to its said feeder means and thus to said material engaged by said feeder means, said force means including means for moving all said feeder means simultaneously; separate catch means for retaining each feeder means adjacent its access passage means; and separate release means for releasing each catch means after the corresponding mold opening has been moved out of communication with its access passage means.
 6. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper for retaining a supply of moldable material; a movable mold adjacent said supply means having a mold opening therein for forming a molded article; access passage means for communicating with said mold opening; means for cyclically moving said mold between a position where said mold opening communicates with said access passage means and a discharge position; feeder means in said supply means movable toward said passage means for forcing said material from said hopper into said mold opening when said opening is in communication with said passage means; means for moving said feeder means toward said passage means; a pair of rotatable mover devices in said hopper adjacent to and on opposite sides of said feeder means; and operating means for rotating said devices toward said feeder for urging said material toward said feeder means, said operating means including means for rotating each said device alternately in successive fractional increments of a complete revolution, and said means for rotating comprises a ratchet wheel and cooperating pawl on each said mover device, and lever means interconnecting said pawls for simultaneous movement thereof.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein there are provided lost motion connecting means between said lever means and said means for moving said feeder means.
 8. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper for retaining a supply of moldable material having a bottom section; partition means dividing said bottom section into a plurality of separate parts; a movable mold adjacent said supply means having a plurality of molded openings therein for siMultaneously forming a plurality of molded articles; access passage means extending from said hopper bottom section toward said mold for communicating with said mold openings; means for cyclically moving said mold between a position where said mold openings communicate with said access passage means and a discharge position; feeder means in said supply means movable toward and away from said passage means for forcing said material from said hopper into said mold openings when said openings are in communication with said passage means; force means for moving said feeder means; agitator means in each said bottom section part adjacent a said feeder means movable to dislodge said material from adjacent portions of said hopper; means for moving said agitator means; a pair of rotatable mover devices in said mold adjacent to said feeder means; operating means for rotating said devices toward said feeder means for dislodging said material and urging it toward said feeder means in which said operating means includes means for rotating each said device alternately in successive increments of a complete revolution; and means for interconnecting said operating means and said means for moving said feeder means whereby movement of said feeder means causes said rotating of said devices, said means for rotating comprises a ratchet wheel and cooperating pawl on each said device and lever means interconnecting said pawls for simultaneous movement thereof, and lost motion connecting means between said lever means and said means for moving said feeder means.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said hopper is provided with arcuate bottom side sections in which are located said mover devices.
 10. Molding apparatus, comprising: supply means including a hopper for retaining a supply of moldable material; a movable mold adjacent said supply means having a mold opening therein for forming a molded article; access passage means for communicating with said mold opening; means for cyclically moving said mold between a position where said mold opening communicates with said access passage means and a discharge position; feeder means in said supply means movable toward said passage means for forcing said material from said hopper into said mold opening when said opening is in communication with said passage means; means for moving said feeder means toward said passage means; a pair of rotatable mover devices in said hopper on opposite sides of said hopper and adjacent to said feeder means; operating means for rotating said devices toward said feed means for urging said material toward said feeder means; agitator means between said mover devices and adjacent said feeder means movable to dislodge said material from adjacent portions of said hopper, said hopper having a bottom section beneath said mover devices and above said feeder means in which said agitator means is positioned; and means for moving said agitator means comprising gear means for interconnecting said agitator means and said force means, said agitator means being arcuately movable about an axis of oscillation and said gear means comprising a pinion gear attached to said agitator means and a rack gear movable with said force means.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said hopper is provided with arcuate bottom side sections in which are located said mover devices. 